Process adaptation and assessment of market development constraints for protein products from cold-press, GM canola meal
Term: 4 years, ending August 2024
Status: Completed
Researcher(s): Janitha Wanasundara, Edmund Mupondwa, AAFC; Michael Nickerson, University of Saskatchewan
SaskCanola Investment: $127,050
Total Project Cost: $394,425
Funding Partners: Agriculture Development Fund
Grower Benefits
This project provided foundational level information to utilize and add value to cold-pressed genetically-modified (GM) canola cake through component fractionation or biotransformation technologies.
The study identified different chemical- and bio-technological options for transforming cold-pressed canola cake into new products with demonstrated functions, including solid state fermentation with Aspergillus strains, AAFC Brassica meal fractionation and ethanol as an alternative to hexane.
The overall techno economic analysis for a rural-based cold-press canola protein processing plant, which was modelled as a biorefinery circular economy concept, showed that plant capacity had the greatest impact on Net Present Value (NPV), while the cost of capital had the smallest impact on NPV relative to other variables. Feedstock cost and coproduct price are two key variables in the profitability of the plant.
An operational plant capacity of 66,000 tonnes/year created a wider range over which the process generated a positive NPV, compared to a 33,000 tonnes/year which did not generate a positive NPV even at maximum selling prices of canola oil and protein fractions.
The survey results showed that nearly half of the participating food product companies are willing to include canola proteins in their ingredient list if canola proteins were to be extracted, produced, and exhibit exceptional functional properties compared to alternatives, and if the pricing also competitive with similar ingredients available. As well, almost 40-50% of the industries would consider canola proteins regardless of their GM status.
Project Summary
Canola seed processing in Canada is currently optimized to obtain high quality canola oil for the vegetable oil market, while the canola meal co-product primarily goes into the livestock feed market. Canola meal production is primarily by pre-press solvent extraction generating a meal not suitable to produce high quality protein that can complete in the protein ingredient market. Cold-pressing is an option for diversifying canola meal uses beyond the livestock feed market toward the development of marketable products, including high value canola protein.
The objectives of this project were to identify gaps in technology development for cold-press canola meal for protein production, including the identification of exact applications or markets that can be targeted based on functional and nutritional attributes. The study included modifying the AAFC Brassica protein fractionation process to use cold-press canola meal and accessing solid-state fermentation as a pre-treatment for cold-press and prepress-solvent extracted canola meals to improve protein quality. Another objective was the completion of techno-economic analysis of potential cold-press canola biorefinery facilities in combination with canola including modeling of logistics to facilitate the development of a rural-based cold-press canola protein processing plant. A final objective was an assessment of consumer perceptions of canola protein and GM-canola to position products in the market.
The results of these studies showed the possibilities for using different chemical- and bio-technological options for transforming cold-pressed canola cake into new products with demonstrated functions. Ethanol (without added water) proved to be a successful alternative to hexane to reduce oil content of the cold-pressed canola cake, producing a suitable material for protein product preparation. The AAFC Brassica meal fractionation process was successfully applied to obtain two protein-rich and three fibre-derived fractions from cold-pressed canola cake without de-oiling or with de-oiling using ethanol or hexane. The results also showed that solid-state fermentation using Aspergillus niger NRRL 334 or Aspergillus oryzae NRRL 5590 can be applied on both cold-pressed canola cake and industrially hexane-extracted canola meal to modify the composition and significantly increase protein content while decreasing the levels of antinutritional compounds. The comparison of the salt-extraction which includes subsequent salt removal and alkaline extraction-isoelectric precipitation methods showed the salt-extraction method can produce canola protein products with better functionality such as protein solubility, foaming and emulsifying properties that support their uses in food and non-food applications.
The technoeconomic analysis was modelled as a biorefinery circular economy concept integrating an array of unit operations spanning feedstock (canola meal) supply and logistics, process design, fractionation, and least-cost conversion into intermediate and optimized end products. This included estimating parameters for total capital investment, operating costs, and profitability measures including net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) at various simulated operating plant scales. The complete engineering process design was developed for a small-scale cold-press canola seed processing plant with an annual capacity of 33,000 tonnes/year (100 tonnes/day) operating 330 days per year and encompassing a collection radius of 150 km from surrounding canola producers that could supply 170,000 tonnes.
Overall, the results of the techno-economic analysis showed an economy of scale between capital investment and plant capacity of the protein production plant. Feedstock cost and coproduct price were two key variables in the profitability of the plant. Plant capacity had the greatest impact on NPV, while the cost of capital had the smallest impact relative to other variables, clearly demonstrating the cost advantages that a processing plant can derive from expanding its operating scale. The study showed that an operational plant capacity of 66,000 tonnes/year created a wider range over which the process generated a positive NPV, compared to one of 33,000 tonnes/year which did not generate a positive NPV even at maximum selling prices of canola oil and protein fractions.
The survey results showed that nearly half of the industries are willing to include canola proteins in their ingredient list if canola proteins were to be extracted, produced, and exhibit exceptional functional properties compared to alternatives, and also priced competitively with similar ingredients available. As well, almost 40-50% of the industries would consider canola proteins regardless of their GM status.
Overall this project provided foundational level information to utilize and add value to cold-pressed GM canola cake through component fractionation or bio-transformation technologies. Further research on aligning canola protein products, either fractionated or bio-transformed with plant proteins in the market, demonstrating their nutritional and functional strength is the next step. In addition, processing plant developments would contribute to the canola industry's ability to capture value in the emerging global plant protein market.
Refereed journal articles:
Li, C., Shi, D., Stone, A., Wang, Y., Wanasundara, J., Tanaka, T., Nickerson, M. 2023. Effect of solid-state fermentation on select antinutrients and protein digestibility of cold-pressed and hexane-extracted canola meals. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society. 100, 529-538. https://doi.org/10.1002/aocs.12705
Li, C., Shi, D., Stone, A., Wang, Y., Wanasundara, J., Tanaka, T., Nickerson, M. 2023. Effect of canola meal fermentation and protein extraction method on the functional properties of resulting protein products. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society. 100, 437-448. https://doi.org/10.1002/aocs.12701